Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, of Isolabella and of Leri was a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. He was the founder of the original Italian Liberal Party and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Cavour died only three months after the declaration of a united Kingdom of Italy, and thus did not live to see Venetia or Rome included in the kingdom.

The inner part of the coin shows a detail of the portrait of the Italian statesman in the centre, the inscriptions CAVOUR and RI on the left, and the mint mark, the dates 1810 and 2010 and the initials of the artist Claudia Momoni (C.M.) on the right. The twelve stars of the European Union surround the design on the outer ring of the coin.